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We are becoming an urban world…there are a million people moving into cities around the world every 5 days. That is a staggering number
—Peter Rummell, ULI Chairman
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Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) What’s Next? Real Estate in the New Economy report debuted in October 2011 much to the delight of many within the planning, architecture, and real estate community. The rather dense 115 page document looks at the key demographic trends within today’s real estate and work sector economies and attempts to predict exactly what the future will hold for urban development.

I’ve tried to do the report justice using the word cloud below to explain both the depth and breadth of the issues covered, but it’s definitely worth your time to explore ULI’s expectations for the future. The report is meant to be less of a reflection of the present and more of a 25-year forecast of the types of trends we will begin to see.

The main themes of the report:

The economy has shifted from what we knew before the sudden bursting of the real estate bubble.

Generation Y has come to power and has remarkably different needs and desires than generations past.

We have a lot of infrastructure and aging issues that need to be tackled immediately.